UNESCO urges govt to stop Orange Line work near Shalimar Gardens

LAHORE: The UNESCO ‘s World Heritage Committee released draft decision on Shalimar Gardens and Orange Line Metro Train clearly mentions that OLMT poses an irreversible and permanent threat to Shalimar Gardens which is a World Heritage Site, and it may be taken off from World Heritage register permanently if the project goes ahead as planned.

The World Heritage Committee released the draft decision keeping in view the longstanding debate on transportation led development project of PML-N Punjab Government that are doing construction inside the 61m protective buffer zone of the international heritage site of Shalimar Garden property violating international laws as well national antiquities act.

This draft decision will be finalized through a vote of member states in the upcoming WHC meeting in July 2017.

The World Heritage Committee in its draft decision urged the State Party (Punjab Government) to immediately suspend without delay any further work in the immediate vicinity of Shalamar Gardens. It requested the State Party to identify an alternative location for the OLMT and deeply Regrets that the Reactive Monitoring Mission was not invited (that is not given visas by the Pakistan Government) as requested by the World Heritage Committee.

It expressed utmost concern that the Department of Archaeology & Museums (Punjab) issued a NOC for the OLMT and highlighted that Pakistan Government has not complied with the requests made by the Committee, nor proposed any clear way forward Considers the fact that construction work undertaken and planned for the OLMT represents a threat to the OUV of the property.

It deeply regretted that no exhaustive impact assessment was undertaken for the OLMT or Visual Impact Study as requested by the World Heritage Committee and requests the State Party to carry out a comprehensive Heritage Impact Assessment in line with WHC/ICOMOS guidelines including a Visual Impact Study to inform the search for alternative locations .

It expressed concern that the Supreme Court will likely issue a decision on the OLMT Project before the requested Reactive Mission has been given a chance to visit the property and requests the Pakistan Government to issue the necessary visas.

Lahore Conversation Society said that draft decision expected delisting of Shalamar Gardens & Lahore Fort will jeopardize future support (technical and financial) from UNESCO, the World Bank and the IMF; seriously compromising the future of heritage tourism revenues to the tune of billions of dollars annually.

In the light of above decision ‘ICOMOS Pakistan’ and the civil society strongly urges the Pakistan Government to recognize its responsibility to its citizens and heritage legacy in which they take extreme pride and modify the OLMT Project in line with international guidelines for heritage protection.

The Government is urged to honor the country’s international commitment made through signing of the UNESCO World.

ICOMOS Pakistan contends that no government has the mandate or right to deprive future generations of their fundamental rights to their heritage and history.

Unesco’s approved formal scientific advisory bodies including ICOMOS and ICCROM gave findings on Orange Line Metro Train to WHC includes that OLMT will irreversibly compromise the authenticity and integrity of the property and will be a potential threat to its Outstanding Universal Value (OUV). That the full impact of the project on the OUV of the Shalimar Gardens goes beyond potential vibration impact.

The Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) provided to the WHC by the Pakistan State Party is not in line with international standards and fails to address the full range of impacts of the project. 4.

It is not clear on what grounds the State Party decided that the OLMT would have no negative impacts on the OUV of the property, nor on what basis the Punjab Department of Archaeology issued a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) for this project.

In the absence of any mitigation measures proposed by the State Party, it recommended that the Committee immediately inscribe the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

It recommended that the Committee requests the State Party to invite a Reactive Monitoring Mission to define comprehensive mitigation measures and reverse threats to the property. It recommended that the Committee request the State Party to immediately stop construction work on the section of OLMT where it approaches Shalamar Gardens.